Duolingo is a commercial language-teaching platform that offers free courses on the web and on mobile apps. This study reports the ACTFL listening and reading proficiency levels of adult Duolingo learners who had completed beginning-level courses in Spanish or French. The participants (n = 225) were learners residing in the United States, had…

Background: Although problem based learning has a great potential to promote learning outcomes as well as cognitive abilities, the number of previous studies investigating this potential on critical thinking, reading comprehension abilities and attitudes in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context is scarce. Also, the number of studies…

Research suggests that English for Specific Purposes (ESP) students in English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) contexts have difficulties understanding the passages in technical English textbooks of various fields of study including computer software engineering. Few experimental studies to date have investigated the effect of an online hybrid reading…

The current research investigates the lexical coverage of reading passages required for achieving the minimal and optimal levels of reading comprehension in a foreign language. More specifically, the aim of the study is to identify the word frequency bands within the reading passages in the English tests of The Higher Education Institutions…

Given the significant global influence of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (CEFR) on English language education, this study deals with aligning a university's academic reading tests to the CEFR. It aimed at validating the test construct of the academic reading tests in relation to the…

Whilst previous researchers commonly report on the effect of portfolio-based instruction on second language/English as a foreign language (L2/EFL) learners' language performance, very few studies examine its impact on their learning motivation. Drawing on expectancy-value theory, the current study examines how the implementation of a…

This study reports the perceptions and understanding of extensive reading (ER) of 259 ER practitioners in Japan, Thailand, Mongolia, and Vietnam. The majority of participants understood the core principles of ER, namely (a) the fluent reading of (b) a lot of (c) easy texts. However, about 25% of the participants in Thailand, Mongolia, and Vietnam…

Unlike alphabetic languages, Chinese text marks no word demarcation. Previous research inserted word-demarcating spaces into Chinese text but found inconsistent effects on reading efficiency. To address the potential trade-off effects of the additional length caused by inserted spaces, this study introduces color-and-font formatting as a word…

Reading plays a significantly important role in every student's academic development, especially when they have to work over a great number of foreign language materials for their professional subjects (McDonough & Shaw, 2013). Strengthening English reading ability is necessary for students to promote individual ability in university…

The premise of this research is that analytical and extensive reading in a digital environment might be used to facilitate second language acquisition at the tertiary education level. Despite the general orientation toward communicative methods in modern second language acquisition, reading methods and techniques have seen an unexpected yet very…

This study explores the constructs that underpin three different measures of vocabulary knowledge and investigates the degree to which these three measures correlate with, and are able to predict, measures of second language (L2) listening and reading. Word frequency structured vocabulary tests tapping "receptive/orthographic (RecOrth)…

The purpose of this case study was to gain an understanding of how reading comprehension component abilities were developed through the English for business purposes (EBP) reading curriculum of the B.S. in International Business and Commerce program offered at the Universidad de Sonora. To gain this understanding, this case study analyzed the…

Diagnostic assessment (DA) in language classrooms is reported to have a substantial role in providing immediate and quality feedback for remedial work that would improve learning (Alderson, Brunfaut & Harding; 2014; Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Huhta, 2008; Jang & Wagner, 2013). However, applying DA in class remains a challenge for many…

Facing the demands of the pandemic and distance learning, English learners require educational technologies that are accessible, engaging, and effective. Meeting these demands requires educational technology developers to consider learners' sociocultural contexts. Learning theories can be applied to meet individuals' needs to optimize chances for…

Reading critically in a foreign language (FL) is a fundamental skill which requires readers to go beyond literal comprehension of the texts and adopt an analytical perspective. Nevertheless, critical stance in FL reading is a newer territory and teachers' understanding and implementation of critical reading (CR) practices is crucial. Based on this…